new york times
nur die new york times hat ihre recherche gründlich betrieben. im dezember 2002 porträtiert saul hansell den ingenieur hinter der animatronischen katze: den ursprünglich aus norwegen stammenden herrn askelund. und wir erfahren ein paar details über den inneren aufbau der servo-mieze.
... they created a neck bone and a spine of interlocking plastic vertebrae manipulated by ribbons to create a looser, more lifelike range of motion.
At the same time, the designers had to make sacrifices to keep down the toy's selling price. Along with infrared sensors, the cat also lacks speech recognition capability, for example, which Furby had. And its paws do not move. FurReal is forever a lap cat.
''There is a tendency to put too much in toys,'' Mr. Askeland said. ''Once you have it be mobile, what are you going to do with it? Where is it going to walk?''
He says that the cat incorporates technological innovations that are far from digital. A new process for shaving the fur allows a smooth transition from long hair on the cat's back to shorter hair on its face. And Hasbro has actually applied for a patent on the process that was used to make the eyes with a pink outer rim and speckled color in the iris.
To get the shape of the head right, Mr. Askeland created a computer scan of a cat skull.
''People think you just put it all together and stuff it,'' he said. ''It's a lot more than that.''
herrn askelunds sager mit dem mehr-als-ausstopfen machte mir mut. schliesslich hatte ich ja schon mal einen tierpräparations-kurs in england besucht.